April 12, 2008 - Ocean Shores and Pacific Beach, WA
Here we go. My first ride with the boys. As you can see there's plenty of leather and bandanas to go around.
I wasn't sure whether or not I would fit in with my blue and purple gortex jacket and my fruity Italian bike. But nobody said anything, although I'm sure the people who saw as ride by thought that a bunch of Harley guys invited their accountant for a ride.
It was my first long stretch on the Eldo so I spent a great deal of the ride feeling the bike out. The two biggest challenges were shifting and braking.
Unlike Japanese bikes and newer Harleys I had to learn to keep pressure on the shift lever through the clutch release. Otherwise the gears would pop out of alignment when I released the clutch. Effectively putting the bike into a neutral state. I found that using the heel shift lever worked much better for doing this when upshifting. Yet another technique I hadn't done before. It took concentration because my body kept going back to what it remembered from past bikes. So there were several instances when I wound out the engine when throttling up after a shift.
The Eldo's braking power was about half of what I'm used to so I spent quite a bit of the ride in high-pucker worried about running into the guy in front of me if I had to stop or slow down suddenly. After a couple of shout-outs to Moto International in Seattle I was able to remedy this later in the riding season. Riding is much more enjoyable when I have confidence in my ability to stop.
Fortunately the Eldo has great acceleration and its handling is almost dream-like. I've owned three Hondas, two Yamahas, a Kawasaki, a Suzuki and have ridden many Harleys but none of them handled like the Eldo. When I lay forward on the tank accelerating through a turn I feel like I've become part of the bike. The Eldo is a beautiful bike, but its really its handling that has won me over.
Back to the ride. We had a great ride down to Ocean Shores. We did the obligatory ride through town and then headed to Pacific Beach. We stopped at a Tavern along the way and had lunch (but no beer) in their beer garden. Towards the end of the meal an old timer showed up riding a Honda Shadow. He was telling us that he and his wife also owned a brand new Goldwing. He said they were shown how to lift the bike off the ground and that it was easy. It made me think of how I was almost unable to lift the Guzzi up from my garage floor (I don't want to talk about it). I had to laugh when he mentioned the reverse gear and airbags. I didn't think to ask him if the passenger had an airbag or not.
We got to Pacific Beach and it was beautiful. I took my shoes off and waded into the surf. There was a half-moon already high in the deep blue sky. There's a river that outpours at the south end of the beach. I stood on its bank watching the colorful kites that dotted the sky. I could have stood there for hours just listening to the ocean and looking at the sky.
All good things must come to an end and this trip was no exception. We saddled up and headed back. Other than having to switch to reserve on I-5 and a surprising bit of douchebaggery by one of the other riders, the trip home was uneventful.
May 3, 2008 - Guzzi Club Breakfast in Enumclaw
My first and only Guzzi club breakfast. There were a few interesting bikes. The two bikes pictured here are a customized Ambassador and a red V11 Ballabio. Both solo rigs.
I rode back part of the way with the Ballabio. Very nice street machine. The owner had just sold a T3 850 which to me is the primo guzzi machine from the mid-seventies. Not as stylish as the Eldorado, but what is?
May 9, 2008 - Dennis and I on the Kitsap Peninsula
Nothing exciting on this ride other than trying to snap photos while riding. This prompted me to start thinking of a way to mount a camera on my handlebars. Which then made my head hurt thinking of all the shit that can go wrong with that so I laid down and took a nap until the thought passed.
August 9, 2008 - Somewhere on the Olympic Peninsula
The weather on this day was dicey but we decided to go anyway. In true Worshington fashion it started raining as soon as we exited John's driveway. It pissed down through Port Orchard on the ride north on highway 16. The good news was that we could see blue sky to the northwest of us. Meaning that the Hood Canal bridge area was at least dry.
As it turned out we left the rain for good as we headed around Gorst. Although we didnt' hit the sun until we passed Sequim (the banana belt). We decided to head up to the Elwha dam from Port Angeles. It was a pleasant ride into the Olympics.
We then took a route that dumped us near Lake Crescent. John and I got ahead of the pack and actually made a good go along the winding lakeside road. One of the few twisties that the state of Washington saw fit to bank the turns. This was most likely for the hundreds of logging trucks that use the road everyday rather than for motorcycles. Whatever works.
John also led us to a place for skipping stones. It was a tidal pool carved out by an estuary. We had a fun time skipping the flat smooth stones from the beach along the still water of the pool. My shoulder was still jacked up at that time, but I did it anyway figuring it wouldn't hurt anymore than it already did. Sure enough, the next day it sucked just as much as it had the past nine months. It was worth it.
September 13, 2008 - Poker Run in SE King County
Here we go. Rich and Eric invited me to join this poker run. I had never done one before and thought it would be fun.
So off we went to Renton to the sponsor's motorcycle superstore. We got our group together. Six bikes of varying makes. Rich was the leader until we got lost in Renton. One of our members was a bus driver so he took over (I wonder why he didn't step up to begin with?). Anyway, the sun came out just after noon and as we headed into the more rural (slightly fewer strip malls) area of King county. The third stop was near a liquor store. The guys manning the check point must have chose the liquor store stop for their own reasons. Everyone who checked in was asked if they wanted a hit off a bottle of booze in a brown paper bag (pure class). I passed but was surprised to see our leader and another rider taking more than a couple of huge hits off of it. Sweeeet, I thought my days of riding with dudes under the influence were over.
As it turned out they appeared to be unaffected by the alcohol. I guess some people don't know how to drink like assholes.
The last stop was in one of those small designer towns that crop up on the outskirts of major cities. Ten years ago it was probably a 4-way stop, now it sports a main street lined with quaint little shops and restaurants. Each containing an early photograph of loggers standing next to a fallen old growth tree with looks on their faces like they just bagged a mastodon with slingshots. The pinnacle of their imported culture being a barbeque restaurant with a flaming sign. Outside the front door of which our final check point table was setup.
We checked in, got our number and decided to check out the local festivities. They were having a customized auto show. Some of it was quite impressive. I took a couple of photos of those that struck my interest.
We made it back in time to lose the poker run. We then bought a bunch of raffle tickets which we stuck around to lose. Eric bolted around 3PM. Rich, another guy and myself rode back to Tacoma together. All in all it was a good day of riding after the sun came out and we were out of Renton.
October 25, 2008 - Walker Mountain
This ride had humble beginnings. Early in the week I invited John and Diane for a ride with Hiroko and I. As of Friday I hadn't heard back so figured it was just Hiroko and I. Come Saturday I get a message on my cell phone from John saying that he, Smiling Jim and Jim Dandy (yes, three guys named Jim) were going too and would be by around noon. Seeing's how I didn't wake up until around 10:30 I had to do some quick scrambling.
I ran a couple of errands, got the Eldo out and started warming her up when Jim, Rene and Jim putted into the driveway. We laid around (literally) in my driveway waiting for John and Diane. After about 30 mins and a cell phone call we arranged to meet them at the local Shell station.
Crossing the Purdy Spit the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds. Typical fall day (minus the rain) in the Pacific Northwest.
Very pleasant ride up the west side of Hood Canal. We seemed to be skirting the sunshine though. The weather reports showed sunny skies. However, they seemed to be East of us all day. This made for a chilly ride. Later in the day Solo Jim mentioned that his weather report said cloudy west of Hood Canal. Thanks for the hot tip!
Regardless, we enjoyed ourselves and quite frankly we made a great little riding group. We road on dirt roads up Mt. Walker. The Guzzi is better suited for this type of riding, but Jim, Jim and John managed their Harleys well.
The vistas from Mt. Walker were beautiful. The ride back was a little cold so I put on wind breaker pants. One of us, who shall remain unnamed, plugged-in his (candy-assed) heated riding gear. Yes, I'm jealous.
November 23, 2008 - Blondies
This was kind of a last minute deal, but I enjoy riding with John and Rich so when I got the call I rearranged my schedule to go. By the way, the weekend before John and I went on a little putt near Purdy and then north to Burley. We got pissed on in a big way, but perservered and came east across highway 16 to Banner Road and then the back way to Gig Harbor. The last big being dry and scenic with a near full moon.
This ride had a purpose though. We were going to lunch to Blondies in Shelton. So off we went. As always the route is scenic and winding. The sun providing light but little in the way of heat.
We stopped near a salmon creek to check on the run, but we were there at the wrong time to see live salmon swim to their deaths in the name of sex (I can sympathize). The chum run had finished and either the silver run hadn't begun yet or wasn't going to happen. Regardless it was a good chance to stretch our legs and shoot the breeze. I took some photos but none were keepers.
Lunch was good. Be careful ordering at Blondies based on the photos in their menu. The actual plate is much larger than it appears. With full bellies we headed back.
I wanted to ride to Harstine Island on our way back because I have never been there and wanted to take some photos. We decided against it because of the late hour. However we agreed to stop along the way and I would take some photos. The result of which you can see. Believe me when I say I could have taken far more spectacular photos, but it's been a learning process. As my skills and intuition improve I'm hoping to do more justice to the beautiful scenery we've been blessed with here in Washington.
November 30, 2008 - Lacey, WA
